Nick McKenzie Richard Baker

THE AUSTRALIAN Customs and Border Protection Service needs ''massive reforms'' to confront corruption and organised crime, according to the Home Affairs Minister, Jason Clare, who has also vowed that officials involved in graft will be ripped ''out by the throat''.

Mr Clare has also revealed he will eventually place the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission under the watch of a soon-to-be expanded Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity, closing a major gap in the nation's anti-corruption system.

His comments come a day after Mr Clare's customs reform panel, led by former NSW judge James Wood, had it first meeting and was briefed by the Australian Federal Police and anti-corruption boss Philip Moss on the operations of an alleged drug smuggling cell of Customs officers at Sydney airport.

They also come after revelations last week in Fairfax Media about the alleged involvement of other Customs staff in organised crime and how the chronic under-resourcing of ACLEI had forced it to borrow resources from the agencies it is meant to oversee, including Customs.

Mr Clare told Fairfax he would soon release a Customs reform blue print and predicted the agency overhaul would take between three to five years.

''Massive reform of Customs … is required to improve its structure and its culture," he said. He warned the public to ''expect more arrests''.

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The acting chief operating officer of Customs and former high-ranking Defence Department official, Michael Pezzullo, would be appointed to head the troubled agency. Mr Clare refused to confirm the appointment but sources said it was imminent.

Among Mr Pezzullo's first challenges would be automating much of Custom's front-line jobs and shifting the agency's focus onto intelligence gathering to increase the detection of drug and gun importers.

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Mr Pezzullo would also face the daunting task of disciplining or re-assigning dozens of staff in connection with misconduct uncovered as part of the ongoing drug smuggling inquiry.

He said an increasing reliance on computerised screening and processing of passengers at major airports would mean ''people doing different jobs", "not necessarily" staff cuts.

''The Asian century means … a big increase in passengers and a big increase in cargo and the key to tackling that challenge is automation," he said.

Asked if he was concerned that suspected corrupt officials were still working at the airport and other locations, he said it was a decision of the Federal Police and ACLEI, who were still running ongoing inquiries.

Mr Clare said he had told both agencies to ''hunt these [allegedly corrupt] people out, rip them out by the throat if necessary and if you need more powers, if you need more resources, just ask".

"I have got Customs officers that are urging me on. I have had officers coming up to me and going, 'good on you, go get them'."

In response to reports that the number of Customs staff under suspicion outnumbered the entire 30-person workforce of the corruption watchdog, Mr Clare said: "I definitely think ACLEI will grow and I am determined to grow its resources."

ACLEI oversees Customs, the Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission, which have a combined staff of about 13,500.

Mr Clare also said state and federal policing agencies had launched a waterfront corruption taskforce in Victoria, called Operation Trident, and a similar taskforce, Operation Neptune, would be running in Brisbane by July. Operation Polaris has charged several allegedly corrupt NSW maritime workers.